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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: mine · clip · file · arm · wound · game · prune · ball

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. wound — an injury
  4. prune — to trim
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. ball — a dance
  9. clip — for paper
  10. clip — to cut
  11. file — a line of people
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. game — wild animals
  14. ball — a great time
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. clip — a video
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. prune — to trim
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. file — a tool
  21. file — a document
  22. game — a match
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. wound — an injury

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com